When people discuss who were the finest North American professional defensemen of the 1960's and early 1970's, Pat Stapleton is always among those mentioned. "Whitey" Stapleton broke into the NHL in 1961-62 with the Boston Bruins. The Bruins being a poor team were not conducive to Pat's development and he spent the next 3 season up and down from the Bruins to the minors. He was then traded to the Chicago Black Hawks and he quickly blossomed in the Windy City. He had become an outstanding defensive player, who did provided strong support for the Chicago goalies. "Whitey" was a very good puck handler who launched many Chicago offensive "counterattacks" with fast, accurate passes to the Black Hawk forwards.

He was named to Team Canada 1972 and went into the Canadian line-up to stay after the debacle of Game 1. Along with defensive partner Bill White, "Whitey" was probably Team Canada's finest defensemen during the series. He was always Head Coach Harry Sinden's first choice on defense when it came to protect a lead in the final minutes. In the summer of 1973 Pat received a huge offer from the cross-town rival Chicago Cougars of the WHA to act as the Cougars player coach. Pat realizing that at age 33 he didn't have many years left as a player accepted the offer. In his first WHA season of 1973-74 he was named the leagues' top defenseman and coached the Cougars to the WHA final. He would continue to be a key member of the new league retiring as an active player at the end of the 1977-78 season. The following year he was named Head Coach of the Indianapolis Racers where he made history by being Wayne Gretzky's fir professional coach.

He was one of Head Coach Billy Harris's first choices for Team Canada 1974. Pat was named captain of the team and along with defensive partner J.C. Tremblay would be the defenseman Harris would use in almost every crucial situation. He played in every game of the Summit picking up 2 assists, and solidifying his reputation as being one of the finest players in the world.